We really wanted to experience the beauty of Rajasthan, and now after coming back from a holiday from Udaipur, I can bet that there cannot be a place so majestic and romantic like it. Truly saying, I did not wish to leave Udaipur to go to my next destination. For sure, the beauty of this town has left all the tourists enchanted and thrilled. It’s a town with lakes and ghats (in the Indian subcontinent - a flight of steps leading down to a river or a lake) and an ultimate place to experience beauty along with Rajasthan history and tradition.
UdaipurSo here I rewind my experience of Udaipur. I and Daniel arrived to Udaipur station at 9.30 in the morning. The air was cool and the atmosphere was fresh. It was a bright and happy day and we took a rickshaw (tuk tuk) to check a few hotels. After visiting three hotels we finally decided to stay at Panorama Guest House situated on Hanuman Ghat in a quiet and tranquil area.
After getting fresh, we visited the lovely rooftop restaurant, from where you can have breathtaking views of Udaipur. Especially at night, when the whole town is lit up with soft lights, and the City Place looks more charming with golden light. It's a marvel which will keep your eyes glued on it!
At night the city lights would reflect on the lake waters making the scene so picturesque. To add to this, there are cosy seating arrangement on the rooftop with candle lights and colourful lamps at the background. It’s one of the most romantic places, and, to make the experience unforgetful were the sumptuous and mouth-watering dishes that the cooks had prepared for us. Well, I tried some Italian, Chinese and Indian cuisine and they were all fantastic.
So we ventured out to catch the charm of this town. We visited the huge Indo-Aryan Jagdish temple, which had an impressive work of architecture. It enshrines Lord Vishnu as Jagganath meaning the “Lord of the Universe”.
Then we headed towards the City Palace, zigzagging through the narrow lanes, though interesting lanes of Udaipur. City Palace is an enormous complex of lovely courtyard, balconies and cupolas. It is the largest palace of Rajasthan build by Maharaja Udai Singh II. There is a fantastic view of the city from the palace terraces.In the palace is situated the City Palace Museum.
It contains the Mor Chowk (Peacock Point) which showcases colourful peacocks mosaicked very elaborately in decorated patterns.
It´s certainly an evidence of the creative capacity of a human being. There is also the Manak Mahal (Ruby Palace) with attractive glass and mirror work. After, there is the Krishna Vilas (Krishna House) with an extraordinary collection of miniatures. Next comes the Bari Mahal (Window Palace) with artisitc windows (take a look below on the photo) and also an endearingly pretty garden in the centre.
The Moti Mahal (Pearl Palace) has delicate mirror work and the Chini Mahal (Sugar Palace) is well beautified with ornate tiles. There is also the Zenana Mahal (Women’s Palace) with colourful wall paintings. I was certainly highly fascinated with these sights and it was an experience to know the lavish lifestyle of the Maharajas.
At night the city lights would reflect on the lake waters making the scene so picturesque. To add to this, there are cosy seating arrangement on the rooftop with candle lights and colourful lamps at the background. It’s one of the most romantic places, and, to make the experience unforgetful were the sumptuous and mouth-watering dishes that the cooks had prepared for us. Well, I tried some Italian, Chinese and Indian cuisine and they were all fantastic.So we ventured out to catch the charm of this town. We visited the huge Indo-Aryan Jagdish temple, which had an impressive work of architecture. It enshrines Lord Vishnu as Jagganath meaning the “Lord of the Universe”.
Then we headed towards the City Palace, zigzagging through the narrow lanes, though interesting lanes of Udaipur. City Palace is an enormous complex of lovely courtyard, balconies and cupolas. It is the largest palace of Rajasthan build by Maharaja Udai Singh II. There is a fantastic view of the city from the palace terraces.In the palace is situated the City Palace Museum.
It contains the Mor Chowk (Peacock Point) which showcases colourful peacocks mosaicked very elaborately in decorated patterns.
It´s certainly an evidence of the creative capacity of a human being. There is also the Manak Mahal (Ruby Palace) with attractive glass and mirror work. After, there is the Krishna Vilas (Krishna House) with an extraordinary collection of miniatures. Next comes the Bari Mahal (Window Palace) with artisitc windows (take a look below on the photo) and also an endearingly pretty garden in the centre.
The Moti Mahal (Pearl Palace) has delicate mirror work and the Chini Mahal (Sugar Palace) is well beautified with ornate tiles. There is also the Zenana Mahal (Women’s Palace) with colourful wall paintings. I was certainly highly fascinated with these sights and it was an experience to know the lavish lifestyle of the Maharajas.
There is also a Crystal Gallery in the premises with extravagant crystal chairs, sofas, tables and beds.. but if you want to see that be prepared to pay an extra Rs.500 per person !!! We missed going there.. as we were keener to catch a romantic twilight of the sunset in the background of the gorgeous Lake Palace, with the soft glowing lights reflecting on the Lake Pichola, with mountains fading in the horizon ;-). We were both spell bound and beholded with the sight of the Lake Palace.
Cool breeze flowing and the evening spreading its golden lights around... This memory brings out in me a better poet, so next time I better be with my pen and book!. It’s an unforgettable event to experience in a lifetime, and I had more reasons to rejoice of being a birthday girl and receiving this as a gift from my special one, my hubby. What can I ask for more? We wanted to take a boat ride but it was closed that day :-( . We weren’t disappointed as we had many things to catch up with. And yes, in the complex is a super deluxe hotel Fateh Prakash Palace owned by the present Maharaja Arvind Singh. Its very well built and adorned with gardens and lakes.
After, there was some shopping of traditional Rajasthani clothes. I must say that the collection in Udaipur is awesome. Hundreds of shops sprawling with the most interesting stuff that you can ever imagine. It’s truly a shopper’s paradise. We picked up a few miniature paintings (of elepahants, camels, horses ,etc.) some kurtas (really cool) and a lovely skirt, my gift :-)We headed in to the decorated streets again. Daniel with his creative observation, led me to a roof top restaurant of a hotel which seemed to be on the highest. This came as a delightful surprise to me when I realized that I was on the tallest hotel (I think so) of the town that was lit with amazing lights. At a distance was the magnificent Jag Mandir and the Lake Palace shining and floating in the lake. What a superb treat for the eyes!!
Our next site was Bagore Ki Haveli that is famous (I shall say world famous, because to my amazement it was stuffed with around a hundred of foreign tourists) for its artists presenting some unbelievable performances showcasing Rajasthani folk dance, music, clothes and other creative skills. It’s a must see for foreigners as well as Indians. It’s fabulous.
( The artists are brilliant with dexterity. Hats off for them!!)
We didn’t know the meaning of getting tired this day. We were energised with the show. In the lane there is a cool place to hang out called the Buddha Café, made up of bamboo walls serving hot beverages, chocolates and pastries (do visit it if you want to sip something and feel cosy). One thing, that is very right to say is that Udaipur is really a touristic town. The people are really used to see foreigners parading from different countries. Ofcourse, there are some ups and downs, but I certainly felt comfortable here with these people.
Rats were running in our stomach till then, and the best place to have dinner was the rooftop retaurant of our hotel. Scrumptiously amazing food, candle light, open sky, warm staff, great ambience and the lovely City Palace in front of us. God!! We thoroughly relished each and every moment of this evening. Coming ahead were the days filled with a lot of travelling :-))))
Kumbhalgarh
The next day we rented a private taxi to visit Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur. Kumbhalgarh is a massive fort built by Rana Kumbha in the 15th century situated on a height of 1100m in the Aravalli mountain range. It was a very important Mewar fort where the rulers used to take shelter in times of danger. This is also a birth place of the great warrior of Mewar, Rana Pratap Singh.
The fort has perimeter walls that go up to 36 km in length and is said to be the longest wall after the Great Wall of China. This fort is a dramatic structure allowing the tourist to understand the high level strategy that was devised by the ancient rulers to protect them from their enemies.
Oops..sorry! This is a video shot in Rajasthan,
just placed in an incorrect order..but enjoy!
Ranakpur
Soon after, we droved towards the famous and internationally praised, a gem of the gems, the Ranakpur Temple. There are no words to describe the real beauty of this white temple made up of 1444 exceptionally carved marble pillars. There is a long story behind the making of the Ranakpur temple. Its construction took place from 1446 to 1496.
Unfortunately with the passing years and the onslaught of time and element, along with the destruction by the foreign invaders much damage was done to the shrine. Only when Anandji Kalyanji Trust refurbished the temple and made facilities, the pilgrims and the tourists were able to take the opportunity of seeing this wonder. There can be no doubt that it can be also a wonder of the world. And now, as I witnessed there were hundreds and hundreds of foreign tourists (keeping on pouring in huge groups) examining and praising the unmatched carved pillars. World renowned architects and sculptures have praised the delicate grace of this temple. The temple's architecture and balance is not the least affected inspite of its loftiness. The artistic sculptures and the myraid oranate festoons with delicate carvings - all these are works of spiritual art. As I approached them, I got oblivious of all else but except of this masterpiece. !!!
Fortunately we met a Jain priest who further explained us that the temple consists of 76 smaller domed-shrines, four assembly halls situated in all four directions, and, 84 subsidiary shrines giving the message to a human to liberate from the 84 lakhs cycles of birth and death and attain salvation. The domes and ceilings of the temple show innumerable carvings depicting incidents from the past. The artists have given these carvings life and movement with their marvellous workmanship. And, after all this may all say, again as I said earlier, that this artistically chiseled masterpiece could certainly take its place as one of the Wonders of the World.
So if you liked what you have just seen.. please keep in touch.. because we are organizing a budget group trip for everyone and we also invite people from different country to experience this unique tradition of India. For further enquiries on this group trip please contact us on +91 9821 231306 or +91 9821 505029 or email us on info@butterflyyogi.com. Please, don't forget to leave your comments! :-)
Ranakpur temple is a Jain temple dedicated to Bhagavan Adinath where thousands of Jains come here for a pilgrimage every year. It is such an exceptionally large temple that it can take hours to understand the complexity of the different structures of marbles.
The pillars are so geniously arranged in such a manner that none of them obstruct the view of the idol. The vast expanse of the structure includes four artistic entrances (from which only one is open to the public). It is a three story building which enshrines four huge white marble images of Bhagavan Adinath facing all the four directions on each level, therefore, it is popularly known as Chaturmukh Jain Temple.
The pillars are so geniously arranged in such a manner that none of them obstruct the view of the idol. The vast expanse of the structure includes four artistic entrances (from which only one is open to the public). It is a three story building which enshrines four huge white marble images of Bhagavan Adinath facing all the four directions on each level, therefore, it is popularly known as Chaturmukh Jain Temple.
Fortunately we met a Jain priest who further explained us that the temple consists of 76 smaller domed-shrines, four assembly halls situated in all four directions, and, 84 subsidiary shrines giving the message to a human to liberate from the 84 lakhs cycles of birth and death and attain salvation. The domes and ceilings of the temple show innumerable carvings depicting incidents from the past. The artists have given these carvings life and movement with their marvellous workmanship. And, after all this may all say, again as I said earlier, that this artistically chiseled masterpiece could certainly take its place as one of the Wonders of the World. So if you liked what you have just seen.. please keep in touch.. because we are organizing a budget group trip for everyone and we also invite people from different country to experience this unique tradition of India. For further enquiries on this group trip please contact us on +91 9821 231306 or +91 9821 505029 or email us on info@butterflyyogi.com. Please, don't forget to leave your comments! :-)
The technique involves the following observances and practices: Sila (morality), Samadhi (concentration) and Panna (wisdom). 
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